The following statements have been released for publication in the Monitor after the publication of Devin Mendelson’s article “Hamilton’s Suppression of the Rosary Club” in the Enquiry. These two organizations were referenced in Mendelson’s article, so they have sent statements to have their voices also be heard. The article can be read here, but please be aware of the following content warnings for the piece: homophobia, racism, and misogyny. We hope that these statements add to the campus discourse on this matter.
Sincerely,
Madison Lazenby, Editor-in-Chief of the Monitor
The Newman Council
One thing that we want to make abundantly clear is that we do not, nor have we ever, had any real power over Rosary Club. We were informed after Rosary Club’s approval that it was to operate under Newman, and we were not told about any power we supposedly have over his communication. If we had been included in the approval process at all, we would have advised Student Activities to ensure we had the power to set up and enforce ground rules, given that this has reflected back on the Catholic community negatively. In his article, Devin writes that “should the Newman Council leaders have their way, Rosary Club emails that mention prayer intentions for certain authentic but often-unpopular Catholic beliefs” would never have gone out. To which we say, yes. If he had sent the emails to us beforehand, like he had been instructed to do (which he mentions in the article but never actually did), we would not have let those emails go out to the campus. If he had actually had to go through us, rather than having a separate email account, this would not have happened. But we do not, and have never, actually had the power to stop him. While we can definitely understand why it seems like we do, the reality is an entirely different story. We have a completely different view on Catholicism, so we knew, from the start, that he would be unreceptive to our feedback, which was confirmed after we tried to speak to him following his first Rosary Club email last semester. He does not represent our beliefs or those of the entire Catholic community on campus. We, as the current Newman leadership, stand for tolerance, acceptance, autonomy, and diversity of both identity and thought.
Newman Council Leadership
The Black & Latinx Student Union
While BLSU respects the Rosary Club and its members’ right to their religious beliefs, we encourage the club to express them only if they are able to do so in a way that is respectful of all members of our community. We were sorry to learn that the Rosary Club was not a fan of the Bob the Drag Queen event that BLSU, GSU, and the DMC Team worked hard to bring to campus as fellow student organizations and identity-based organizations at Hamilton. Events such as Bob the Drag Queen's visit are held to bring joy to and affirm the existence and identities of some of our members, as well as other students and faculty. We wish the Rosary Club the best of luck in finding events on campus that are better suited to their own interests and beliefs in the future.
BLSU E-Board
Updated 4/19 to correct typo.